Is it the weather or am I going mad?

Had a couple of disturbing dreams recently. A loved one came into the house, seems this person was shot in the forehead while mowing the lawn. It was not a large caliber bullet as their head was not blown off but a small weapon with a small, noticeable hole. No exit wound so it was suggested to go to the hospital to have the bullet removed. For some reason we went separately with the injured party going to Children's Hospital, which is odd because the victim is no longer a child and Mount Carmel West is closer.

The other dream involved me euthanizing a cat I once had in the bathtub, and that's about all I want to say except it really creeped me out.

Who knows what is going on in my head to produce these nightmares. The weather here has been freakishly warm. Thirty degrees warmer than normal. My rose bush is starting to bud six weeks ahead of schedule. The lawn is going to need mowing this weekend. I'll do that, and hope I do not get shot.

Been thinking about poetry slam recently and its effect on poets. Slam can kill you as quickly as it can resurrect. It can create heroes as easily as monsters. I do not know what I'm witnessing in slams these days. It's not supposed to be pretty but the joy has lessened for me and it's already making me lean cynically, not even five years into the game. All I can do is be me out there, and I'm perfectly ok with that. And by me I mean a writer with little self confidence who is not afraid to take risks. That is, when I infrequently write something that is a risk. So do I take a risk and write about these messed up dreams? I questioned putting them here for crying out loud!

Slam and poetry are different beasts that can interact. Sometimes they do not play nice.

A lot can happen in four years, just ask Florence Welch. This was one of the first videos I saw of her performing.



Said then that she was going to be indie big. Looks like that happened for her. All I'm doing it writing about that, and not very well.

In better news, while he's still in serious condition and intensive care, Fabrice Muamba is communicating and appears to be on the road to a long recovery.

Nature's Way

Bolton's midfielder Fabrice Muamba remains in critical condition after having a heart attack on Saturday. The soccer world is coming together in support, it's good to see.

In another soccer tragedy over the weekend, after upsetting Celtic in the Scottish League Cup for its first Cup in team history, the Kilmarnock team was celebrating until realizing the father of midfielder Liam Kelly was being treated near the players bench at Hampden. Jack Kelly died of a heart attack, aged 59. Can't imagine what the Kelly family is going though. A massive high then low, and on the UK's Mothers Day.

I missed the match because I wanted to get out of town. Took my wife on an adventure to Hocking Hills State Park. It had been years since I'd been down there.





A lot of fun to slip and slide on the rocks. My wife did not like the tunnels. Very peaceful, and not as crowded as I thought it would be.

We took a nap when we got home. When we woke up, I thought I heard tornado sirens. Turned on the TV and all Hell was breaking loose. It was calm where were were, but up north it was looking a little ominous.



Funnel clouds were spotted, but I do not think there was any serious damage anywhere. A lot of rain, a bit of wind. Looked spooky though.